Pollard doesn't criticize official over unnecessary roughness penalty

When Bernard Pollard was flagged for unnecessary roughness for what referee Carl Cheffers described as a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless Deji Karim in the third quarter of the Ravens’ eventual 12-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night,

After the game, however, the starting strong safety declined to complain about the call, which – on replay – appeared to show Pollard hitting the Jacksonville running back with his shoulder.

“That’s what I thought, but nevertheless, it’s not going to take that call away, it’s not going to wipe it away,” he said. “He made the call and did whatever he had to do. It’s one of those things where as referees, they’re going to go back and review everything, and hopefully, they’re going to make some corrections. But that’s what he felt like was the issue at the time. So he made the call, he stuck with it. You can’t take it back, you can’t change it, you can’t change time. So we’re going forward.”

Pollard wasn’t sure whether he would be fined, but he seemed to empathize with the plight of the officials, who are required to make snap judgments that can sometimes be distorted by instant replay.

“Officials, they are going to get criticized because the fans want them to make the right call, the players want them to make the right call, the coaches want them to make the right call, they want to make the right call,” he said. “But things go so fast in this league. So they’ve got to make it. They’ve got to quickly make a decision and go with it. As players, we might not like it sometimes, but they’ve got a tough job just like we do.”